References

"The only way I was happy was to do something very  different"

Born: October 4, 1945, Southern China (Age 70)

Education
Master of Science
The University of Wisconsin
Doctor of Philosophy
The University of Alberta

BackGround Information
Dr. Tak Wah Mak is a Canadian medical researcher, geneticist, oncologist, and biochemist. Tak has earned many achievements and was of the many individuals that created such a large advancement in public health. His discoveries were diverse in many fields, being within immunology, single transduction, and cancer biology. Dr. Tak Wah Mah was recognized for decipher of the T cell receptor for antigens.

Early life
Tak was born in Southern China in 1946, raised in Hong Kong with both parents holding the occupation of silk merchants. As a child, like any parents would, encourage Tak to become a Doctor, but his interest contradicted to their opinion, that following his interest in math, biology, and chemistry. Later on within his life around the year of the mid 1960s, their family moved to the States with the ambition to go to the University of California or Wisconsin. But was persuaded by her mother to attend the University of Wisconsin to avoid antiwar activities that took place in California. His desires and interests on life and chemistry led him to studying biochemistry and biophysics.

Life at the University of Wisconsin
During his time in the University of Wisconsin, Tak began the foundation of his scientific career. The first interaction that led to his career was when he met Roland Rueckert, who was a virologist. Roland was looking for someone to clean his test tubes and so Tak inquired about the job. He was later then accepted and began working. As little work was needed to clean the tubes, he requested for more work that needed to be done, that followed that no cleaning work needed to be done, but experimental work was available. With the opportunity given at hand, Tak assisted with the remaining experimental work and as stated "was the beginning of my career". After finishing his degree in the University of Wisconsin, Tak moved to Canada to begin his Doctoral Studies at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. He has earned his PhD in Biochemistry after obtaining his degree and moved to Toronto to become a Canadian Citizen. After his transition to Toronto, he has met and worked with Ernest McCullock and James Till, who at the time discovered haematopoietic stem cells.

Scientific Career
1980 Tak returned to Wisconsin to discover new techniques in the lab of Howard Martin Temin. Tak then later was rewarded with a noble prize in physiology and medicine for the discovery of enzyme reverse transcription. Due to studying under Temin, Taks perspectives were changed and Temin encouraged him to be diverse into disciplines, which was one of the many reasons on how he discovered the reverse transcription. During the early 1980s in Toronto, Tak and his newly created team worked on discovering the T-cell receptor which was still unknown to many scientists. During the deciphering of the T-cell, he employed a technique called the molecular subtraction which was often used by virologist and was also known at the time as the "Holy Grail of Immunology". 1984, Tak and Mark M. Davis discovered the T-cell receptor identifying the receptor in mouse. Due to this discovery, Tak was offered opportunities in many prestigious institutes around the world, but stayed committed to the Canadian scientific community.1993, Tak received support by the world's largest independent biotech company, Amgen, to help establish their Research Institute in Toronto. Due to their financial support Tak received, this resulted in his lab pioneering the use of knockout mice, as his lab generated one of the first knockout mice, which led to the creation of many more knockout mice and resulted in the only lab in the world to created large amount of knockout mice. Due to Taks advancement in genetically altered mice in scientific study, it has led to important break throughs in immunology and understanding cancer at a cellular level. 2004 Tak became the director of the Advancement Medical Discovery Institute and Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research. Also a senior scientist, division of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Advance medical Discovery Institute /Ontario Cancer Institute. He is as well a member of the Cancer Research Institute Scientific Advisory Counsel, and a Professor in the Departments of Medical Biophysics and Immunology at the University of Toronto since 1984.

Achievements and Honors

• 1986, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
• 1988, awarded the Emil von Behring Prize
• 1989, awarded the Gairdner Foundation International Award
• 1990, awarded the Royal Society of Canada's McLaughlin Medal
• 1994, made a Fellow of the Royal Society
• 1995, awarded the King Faisal Prize for Medicine
• 1996, awarded the Robert L. Noble Prize by the National Cancer Institute of Canada
• 1996, awarded the Sloan Prize of the General Motors Cancer Foundation
• 2000, made an Officer of the Order of Canada
• 2002, elected as a foreign associate to the National Academy of Sciences in the discipline of immunology
• 2003, awarded the Killam Prize by the Canada Council for the Arts.
• 2004, awarded the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize.
• 2007, awarded the Order of Ontario.
• 2008, introduced to the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.